Scientists discover a strange property in rice and turn it into a smart material

Date: June 11, 2026 Source: University of Birmingham Summary: Scientists discovered that rice behaves in a highly unusual way: it weakens under rapid compression but stays stronger when pressure is applied slowly. Using this effect, they engineered a new material that reacts differently to gentle movements and sudden impacts. The material can adapt its stiffness automatically, opening the door to safer soft robots and protective equipment that responds instantly to collisions. Share: Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email FULL STORY A strange property of rice has helped scientists create a smart material that changes its behavior on its own depending on how fast it’s hit. Credit: Shutterstock Rice is best known as one of the world's most important food crops, but scientists have now shown it could also help inspire a new generation of smart materials. Researchers discovered that packed rice grains behave in an unusual way under pressure. When compressed slowly, the grains remain relatively strong. But when squeezed quickly, they actually become weaker. This surprising behavior has allowed scientists to create a new material that could one day be used in soft robots that automatically adjust their stiffness and protective equipment that responds differently depending on the force of an impact. The international research team, led , reported its findings in the journal Matter. Rice's Unusual Response to Pressure Experiments showed that tightly packed rice grains respond very differently depending on how quickly a load is applied. At higher loading speeds, the material weakens significantly. This phenomenon, known as "rate softening," is uncommon in most materials. Researchers found that it happens because friction between individual rice grains drops sharply when forces are applied rapidly. As a result, the internal networks of forces that normally help support the load become weaker. The team used this unusual property to develop a new metamaterial, an engineered composite structure designed to exhibit behaviors not found in naturally occurring materials. Creating a Self-Adapting Metamaterial To build the new material, researchers combined rice-based granular units with materials such as sand, which become stronger when subjected to rapid loading. The result was a granular metamaterial capable of responding differently to slow movements and sudden impacts. Depending on the situation, the material can bend, buckle, or stiffen in different ways, all without electronics, sensors, or active control systems. Mingchao Liu, from the University of Birmingham, said: "Rice might be best known as a staple food globally, but it's rarely associated with advanced engineering.